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Making a good RP Char
Written by Dagny16 and Sceron of Kongregate, they know what they're doing, so read up. The Guide Written by Dagny16 (Stephanie), edited by Lotias (Sceron) How Do I Make a Good Role-playing Character? If you’re reading this, chances are you’ve previously taken my “How Bad is your RP Character” quiz. Maybe you did well; maybe you’ve become aware that your character needs work. This document is intended to provide some general advice on how to make an original, memorable RP character that will help make your RPs more fun for everyone involved.  Tip 1: Originality Tip 2: Don’t Take the Lazy Way Out (Part 1) Tip 3: Make Sense Tip 4: Be a Team Player Tip 5: Don’t Take the Lazy Way Out (Part 2) A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating a Character A Quick Summary =Tip 1: Originality= Avoid basing your character off of an existing series. If you really want to write about Link, that’s fine, but try fanfiction.net. Plagiarized characters are annoying to other RPers and give the impression that you’re unable to create an interesting character of your own. =Tip 2: Don’t Take the Lazy Way Out (Part 1)= Making a truly interesting character can be tough. That’s why a lot of new RPers use shortcuts. It’s easy to fall into the trap of making your character a half-demon half-angel vampire neko princess in your attempt to make them seem interesting or cool. Needless to say, this is not a good way to create a memorable character. Not only is it a crutch that will cripple your growth as a writer, it doesn’t even accomplish its intended purpose. Anyone can mash a bunch of species together and put a trenchcoat on it. Half-demon-half-angels are a dime a dozen. If you want your character to be truly interesting and memorable, your focus should be on personality, mannerisms, and backstory. The best advice I can offer you here is to create a completely human character, ideally with no supernatural abilities or incredible skills. Practice your character creation skills on him or her. Work on making the personality consistent and complex; consider how the character’s inherent tendencies might have affected the events of his life, and how the events of his life might have affected his personality traits. One useful exercise is to fill out online quizzes from the perspective of your character. Another one is to imagine scenarios and consider how your character would respond to them. Flesh the character out. Make them seem as much like a real person as you can. Once you’ve gotten really good at that, it’s safe for you to try creating exotic characters again. You can use an exotic species, ability, or skill as flavor, not as a crutch. If you can make a vampire character who would still be interesting if he weren’t a vampire, then go ahead and do that. You’ve earned it. =Tip 3: Make Sense= Roleplaying is often a form of escapism. Many people roleplay in order to do things that would be impossible in the real world. For that reason, magic powers and high technology are a-OK in an RP. However, the setting and character should make internal sense. When creating an element of your character’s backstory or personality, always stop to question it. Ask yourself, “Does this make sense? If so, why?” If the answer is no, tweak the element until it does make sense, or scrap it entirely. For example, let’s say you want your character to be an alien who traveled to Earth to become a lawyer. You might ask yourself, “Why did the alien travel so far from his home to be, of all things, an Earth lawyer?” Let’s say the answer is, “He was already a lawyer on his homeworld, whose totalitarian regime he has fled.” You now have a host of other questions to ask yourself, like: “Why did he flee all the way to another planet instead of another part of his homeworld? How did he even get there--how’d he travel faster than light, how’d he know Earth had intelligent life, how’d he navigate to it? How was he able to integrate himself into Earth society without being dissected by scientists? How did he get a license to practice law when he’s not even a citizen of anywhere?” You’ll need to work out the answers to these questions yourself, before someone surprises you with them in an RP and makes you feel stupid. Making sense is especially important when it comes to personality traits. For example, a character should generally not be extremely ambitious AND choose to spend his life working as a clerk in a small-town drugstore. Keep an eye out for contradictions like that. =Tip 4: Be a Team Player= Roleplaying is, in some respects, simpler than writing a story. For example, you don’t have to write a plot in the conventional sense. The writing process is mostly distilled down to creating a character; perhaps you’ll create a setting and a general story arc if you’re a DM. However, there’s one major factor in RPing that isn’t an issue when you’re writing a story, and that’s the presence of other people. When creating a character for an RP with others, it’s important to bear in mind how your character will affect their fun, just not your own. You wouldn’t show up to a basketball game with springs in your shoes, or hock a loogie all over a chessboard, because that would wreck the game for everyone else. For the same reason, you shouldn’t make a character that’s excessively powerful or really irritating. Excessively powerful characters almost always suck, for the following reasons: First, if the other characters in the RP aren’t super powerful, then your godly character will sweep the floor with everyone. This turns the RP from a fun cooperative effort into “Let’s All Write a Story Where My Guy is the Best and Always Wins, and Your Guys always Lose.” This is not fun for the other players for the same reason that playing Capture the Flag against an army of tanks would not be fun. Even if your character isn’t actively killing everyone else, they have the ability to threaten everyone else into doing as they say; this is, again, not fun for anyone but you. Secondly, if everyone else is also super powerful, there is a really good chance that the RP will turn into a pissing contest. This happens a lot, and is reminiscent of two kids playing superhero. The first kid announces that he’s fired his unstoppable hyperlaser, rendering Kid 2 dead; Kid 2 responds that, nuh uh, his Ultimate Shield of the Infinite Blocking has saved him; Kid 1 retorts that the unstoppable hyperlaser was specially crafted so that it can even penetrate the Ultimate Shield of the Infinite Blocking; and so on until the whole thing devolves into a pointless argument. This is not fun for you OR anyone else, unless you’re a very strange person. So what about irritating characters? There are a few ways you can make your character really irritating. One way is to make them really smug, arrogant, and/or condescending, and to give the impression that they’re justified in acting that way. For example, if your character is constantly smugly announcing that he can explode someone’s brain with a thought, and he can in fact explode someone’s brain with a thought, that’s really annoying. It gives the impression that you’re unduly pleased with yourself for writing a super powerful character. Never forget that ANYONE CAN WRITE A SUPER POWERFUL CHARACTER, so it doesn’t make you special. It’s as easy as typing, “My character is God.” On a related note, don’t make your character “the best at X,” or “the strongest/smartest/whatever,” or “the only one with the power to X.” Descriptions like these preclude other people’s characters from being better at X, or having the power to X. Try to avoid including any attribute in your own character that restricts other people’s characters by definition. Another sure-fire way to irritate people is to base your character on your own sexual fetishes. Seriously, please don’t do this. It’s inappropriate, it’s generally a lot less subtle than you think it is, and it skeeves everyone out. There is absolutely nothing wrong with having a fetish, nor is there anything wrong with using a fetish-based character for cybersex with consenting partners; but please do not involve other people in your sexual fantasies without their knowledge or consent. If you insist on doing this, please at least don’t make it obvious. =Tip 5: Don’t Take the Lazy Way Out (Part 2)= There are a lot of attributes that you can give your character in order to avoid doing any hard work in an RP. This is not a good thing to do. For example, you might give your character eyes that change color according to her mood. In addition to being a huge cliche and basically the ultimate sign of a Mary Sue, this means you don’t have to portray her emotions by describing her body language, facial expression, or tone of voice. That’s lazy writing. If you don’t feel confident in your ability to describe emotions that way, that’s something you should practice. Read the work of authors you admire; ask for tips from more experienced writers; and above all keep practicing. Another common shortcut is to make your character Evil. If your character is just generally an evil sort of person who does evil things because she’s evil, then you don’t have to think of a legitimate reason for her to fight anyone she meets. This is very useful if your favorite way to RP is to have your character fight someone else’s character, but it’s lazy writing. People in the real world don’t generally do evil things for the hell of it. Characters that do are bland and not remotely sinister, because they are basically cardboard cutouts of moustache-twirling villains with no depth. If you want a chilling character, think of a legitimate reason for their evil actions, and make sure that they do evil things only to accomplish their goals. “My character murders people because he’s evil” is boring; “My character murders people because a trauma in his past drove him violently insane” is equally boring; but “My character murders homeless people because he sincerely believes they’re better off dead, and considers himself an angel of mercy” has the potential to be interesting if done well. =A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating a Character= Everyone has their own method of character creation. Here’s one that I think works pretty well. Start with a detail that’s both broad and essential. This concept will be one of the core characteristics of your character. You might start with the character’s general goal in life (love? money? knowledge? something else?), their general role in the world (philanthropist? businessperson? criminal? retail worker? student? something else?), their general outlook (optimistic? pessimistic? highly rational? highly spiritual? something else?), or, you guessed it, something else. So you’ve got your core trait now. Let’s say you’ve decided that your character’s central goal in life is finding true love. The next question to ask is, “Why?” Think about some general characteristic of your character’s personality that influences and justifies the core trait. For example, you might say: “My character’s goal is to find true love because he’s a generally lonely person, so he longs for an ideal, permanent companion.” Many avenues of exploration branch off from here. Most of the time you’ll be answering the question “why,” and then moving on from there. Brainstorm up some questions and answers. Why is my character a lonely person? (Was he always that way? Did something (or many things) happen in his past that made him lonely, or exacerbated his lonely tendencies? Has anything ever been able to relieve his feelings of loneliness? If so, what?) Why does he think true love is the solution? (How has love been modeled for him in the past? Have others told him that love gave them fulfillment? What have his previous relationships been like, if any? Is he in a relationship now, and if so, does he believe he’s found true love?) What does “true love” mean to him? (What’s his ideal relationship? Where did he get his ideas about love--was it perhaps from stories, the experiences of others, his own experiences? Has he considered all previous relationships to have fallen short of “true love,” or does he tend to believe he’s found true love at the time?) How does he go about seeking true love? (Where does he look for potential partners? Does his chosen profession reflect his desire to find his ideal companion? Does he cultivate any personal skills or appearance traits in the hope of attracting a mate, and if so, which ones and how?) Ask yourself a hell of a lot of questions like these. The answers will spawn even more questions. (He learned to knit so that he could impress potential partners with handmade gifts. OK, so why did he choose knitting instead of some other creative hobby? Because he likes the texture of yarn, and his city has a knitting club. OK, so how good is he at knitting? What sorts of things does he prefer to knit? How do other people typically react to his knitting prowess?) Write down your questions and answers in a Word document so you don’t lose track of anything. Writing and periodically updating a brief summary of your character’s personality, backstory, and skills might help you to organize your thoughts. Keep an eye out for contradictions, and use the questions you’ve already answered to help you answer new ones: Hmm. “Does my character own a cat?” Well, I’ve already established that he knits a lot. If he does have a cat, he’d have to be extremely cautious to prevent it from eating his yarn and dying. Perhaps he’s lost a cat that way in the past? Next question... “Would my character be willing to let a friend crash on his couch?” I’ve already established that he’s a lonely person, so he’d probably be willing to let a friend stay at his house just to have the company. It could be that he’s also a genuinely nice guy and wants to help out, but at the very least I know he’d do it for the company. Oh dear. I just wrote that my character would let a friend crash on his couch for the company, but earlier I wrote that he has no friends because he doesn’t want to waste time on anyone once he’s sure they aren’t his true love. I’ll have to change one of those two answers so that they don’t contradict each other. Weave backstory and personality together. Each should influence the other. Continue asking “what,” “why,” “when,” “where,” “how.” My character has always been insecure. After his parents divorced, he became obsessively worried about his own relationships ending because of some failure on his part. He overcompensated by being extremely clingy and obsequious with his partners, ruining those relationships. This only served to reinforce his fear of wrecking his relationships. As a result he eventually became obsessed with the idea of finding a “true love,” who would never leave him and whose love for him would be unconditional. Try to avoid inventing outlandish backstory components to justify the character’s current situation. If you catch yourself including miraculous coincidences, or giving your character new talents and skills to make everything else fit together, stop. Your character is already cracking at the seams, and you’re patching it up with cheap glue. Back up a step or two, and consider whether you really need this thing to be part of your character. If it absolutely must be, look for a way to incorporate it that isn’t strained. My character once killed an entire bar full of deadly gangsters because they told him he’d never find true love. OK, so how did he do that? Well, uh, he’s like a super awesome fighter. OK, so how did he learn to fight? Where would he have gotten that kind of training? Above all, why would he have spent the necessary years training his Awesome Fighting Skillz to that level when he’s so fixated on finding his true love? Well, uh...he has the power to blow people up with his brain. OK, this is getting stupid. Back to the drawing board. Do I really need my character to have killed an entire bar full of deadly gangsters? I guess I don’t, so I’ll scrap that idea. Or alternatively; OK, this is getting stupid. Back to the drawing board. Do I really need my character to have killed an entire bar full of deadly gangsters? Yes, I think it’s important to keep that quality. Oh, I know: he spent years learning combat skills because he’s convinced that saving a damsel in distress with great valor and martial prowess is a sure-fire route to True Love. I’ll make sure that my character’s backstory, personality, and mannerisms are consistent with his having years of combat training. I’ll also make sure to answer all the other questions prompted by this whole “years of combat training” thing. Make sure that you research your character’s hobbies and skills. If something’s important to your character, it’s a good idea to have at least a rudimentary understanding of it, both so that you can roleplay it convincingly and so that you won’t base other aspects of the character on your misconceptions. OK, so my character knits. I’m pretty sure knitting involves making a yarn tapestry by knotting all the yarns together with swift katana strikes? So that must mean that my character is very agile and dexterous and also that he owns dual katanas. Wait, no, I just looked up knitting and it’s not like that at all. Strike everything I just said. Once you feel that your character is complex, interesting, and nuanced, it’s time to start worrying about the minor details. For example, there’s physical appearance. Maybe you’ve already decided that your character is ugly, and that that affected his life in X way and his personality in Y way; now it’s time to figure out exactly how and why he’s ugly. Does he have warts or what? This is also the time to decide things like preferred clothing style, the specific weapons he prefers if any, his name and the names of people close to him, the name of the place where he grew up, little personal tics that have no significance beyond flavor, and so on. Now it’s time to give the character a test run. You could dive straight into an RP, or ask friends whose writing skills you respect for constructive criticism. Even at this point, your character might still need more fleshing out; try filling out online quizzes on your character’s behalf, or asking yourself throughout the day how your character might respond to the situations you find yourself in. Remember that most of the details you’ve put together won’t ever be explicitly stated in an RP. Don’t feel like you have to shove them all in! A character is like an iceberg; it’s mostly below the surface. The information is for you to use, to inform your character’s actions (“I know he’d respond X way to what the other character just did, because Y happened in his childhood”), and so that you’ll have it available if one of the other characters actually does ask about it. Happy character creating, and good luck! =A Quick Summary= #First you think of WHAT your character is. #Then you explain WHY your character is that way. #Then explain HOW that WHY came to be. #Then explain WHEN and WHERE that WHY came to be. #Next, use the answers to WHY, HOW, WHEN, and WHERE to build additional WHATS, and repeat the cycle until you have a character you’re proud of. #Finally, make sure you’ve really worked out your character; test it out.